Marjoreece - Date Night

Quiet Night In

A/N so its been a bit angsty recently so this is pure Marjoreece fluff.

For the last couple of weeks, every spare moment Reece had was spent going through the boxes of paperwork or trying to get into the encrypted files on the hard drive. He was surprised at how difficult it was proving to be to get to the files, so he focused his attention on the paperwork for a bit so he was at least making some progress. He now had a box full of things that weren't going to help, just genuine things related to the nursery, a box full of pages highlighted that would help and a box full of pages highlighted that could help but more information was needed. His plan was to work his way through everything and then try and piece together the related information from the various sources in the hope it then made more sense.

He'd been on the early today, and Marjorie was on the late. He looked at his watch and saw he had just under an hour until she was due home, so he decided to take a break and get dinner started. He was aware that he'd been so preoccupied with all his dad's paperwork that he hadn't been giving her the attention he felt she deserved and wanted to do something to make up for it and make sure she knew she was still his main priority, even if he hadn't shown it recently.

He had it all planned out. He'd already packed away all the paperwork so the dining table was free and set up candles, and laid out the cutlery and wine glasses. He headed to the kitchen to start cooking. He was going simple, but not. He'd decided to make gnocchi from scratch with butternut squash, sage and ricotta and he was going to make chocolate souffle for dessert as she had never tried his soufflé before but she had heard the story of Mia telling one she loved it.

He knew Marjorie was due in the next 5 minutes, so he also went upstairs and ran her a bath before running back down to check in dinner.

He was so distracted that he didn't notice Marjorie come home. As she walked through the door, the smell hit her, and her mouth started watering. She walked into the kitchen, walking past the already set table on the way.

She walked up behind him and slid her arms around his waist, burying her head in his back as she mumbled, "Hello you. What's all this?"

"Hey gorgeous." He said, turning around to return her hug. "I just thought you deserved to be spoilt for the night. I've been so distracted recently, and I wanted to make it up to you. There's wine already chilling in the fridge, I'll get you a glass." He said, sliding out from her embrace to pour and pass her a glass. "There's a bath waiting for you upstairs so you can relax. Dinner will be ready in about 45 minutes, so you've got time to unwind."

Marjorie looked at him in shock, "What have I done to deserve all this?" She asked, pulling him in for a kiss.

"You've just been you." He replied, stroking her cheek with his thumb and kissing her forehead. "Now, go upstairs and make the most of your bath before it gets cold."

She didn't need telling twice. As she walked into the bathroom, she instantly saw the candles and the bubble bath ready for her. She couldn't get over, after always being told she wasn't good enough, this incredible man would do something like this just because. Just as she started to relax, her phone rang. She was shocked when she looked at the caller ID. Mia. That's odd, Mia never calls me she thought.

"Hiya Mia, you alright?" She said when she answered. They'd been on better terms recently, so she really wanted to make the effort to stay civil for Reece and Chars sake.

"Hey Marjorie, is Reece near you?"

"No, he's downstairs cooking. Why?"

"Good, I've been asking around, and I think you're right about Roger and Siobhan. There's definitely trouble in paradise. Apparently, her phone goes off constantly whenever she goes anywhere without him, and that includes business meetings he's arranged. If the continuous texts aren't bad enough, if she doesn't answer straight away, he'll then start calling. I know someone that overheard a phone call where he was shouting at her for not answering when she'd been in a meeting he'd sent her to with an investor. Can't see Shibby being very happy with that treatment, but if he's fixed it so financially she can't afford to leave him, she's stuck. I think we need to try and talk to her but I think that you'll be much better at that than me."

"You do?" Marjorie asked, sounding confused. "Are you sure about that? We've never seen eye to eye. In fact, I think she hates me. I don't think she'll open up to me."

"I think she will. You're much more sympathetic than me, and you're used to being there for other people. Even if it doesn't work, you've got a much better chance than I have of getting her to open up. You could always dress it up as 'trying to get to know the future mother-in-law' if nothing else."

Marjorie pulled a disgusted face. "Oh god, if she marries Roger and I marry Reece, she'll be my mother-in-law!!!! I think I might be sick. That sounds like a nightmare!"

"True, but it could work in our favour for this. I'll leave it with you. Have a good night. I really miss Reeceys cooking." Mia said with a sigh.

"Yours is pretty good, Mia. I tried some of that pasta you sent to work with Char, and that was amazing."

"That may be Reeceys recipe. He taught me to make that when we were kids. Pre prom young. I remember him teaching me while we made it for Autumn. I ended up throwing pasta at him because he was getting stressed. I was making too much mess, apparently." Mia laughed.

Marjorie couldn't help but laugh as well. "Yep, that sounds like Reece. Thanks, Mia. I'll let you know how I get on with Siobhan." She hung up and looked at the time. She still had a little bit of time to relax before going down for dinner.

When her time was up, she went to the bedroom and put on some comfy clothes, she figured she didn't need to dress up for a night in, before going back down to the kitchen to Reece. She leant on the counter, watching him move effortlessly round the kitchen as he pulled everything together. She had no idea how he did it. She'd never really been able to produce anything remotely edible in the kitchen. She poured herself another glass of wine and topped up his. She couldn't take her eyes of him as he moved around. The fact that the kitchen was spotless as well was something else she marvelled at. Anytime she had attempted anything , the kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off.

He finished dishing up and picked up the two plates, leaning down  to kiss her as he walked past. "Come on, gorgeous." He said, winking at her. She followed him into the dining room and sat down. After the first mouthful, she thought she'd died and gone to heaven.

"Oh my god! This is incredible. Can't believe I was lucky enough to get two of your delicious meals in one day."

Reece looked confused. "Two?"

"Yea, Char shared this pasta dish with me that Mia had made, and apparently, it was one you taught her when you were young. Something about Mia throwing pasta at you because you were getting stressed with the mess." She explained laughing.

"Ha, the arrabbiata. I had no idea she still made that. And yes, she did throw it at me." He replied, laughing at the memory.

They carried on talking over dinner, and when they finished, Reece got uo to clear the table. He planted another kiss on Marjories lips as he passed her and said, "I need to go and sort dessert now gorgeous. You can stay here or come out and keep me company. It's up to you. But it will only take about 10-15 minutes to cook."

"I'm coming with, I want to know what else you've been up to." She said, following him out.

He sorted all the dirty dishes from dinner and then went to the fridge, pulling out a bowl with some kind of batter in it. She watched as he got out two ramekins and got them ready. "What are you making then?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, I realised the other day, you've never tried my souffle, have you?" He asked.

"Wait, the one Mia said I love you too?!?!"

"Not quite. She said that to a cheese one. I know my audience. I've made you chocolate." Reece replied, laughing, carefully putting them in the oven.

"OK, so I'm gonna say this now, so you don't think it's about them." She got up and flung her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. "I love you."

He laughed, kissing her back before replying, "I love you too."